Response to human chorionic gonadotropin in patients with ovarian tumors.

The results of hCG stimulation on peripheral levels of androstenedione (A), testosterone (T) and estrone (E1) were examined in 14 patients with ovarian tumors and in 9 tumor-free subjects, after the menopause. Following hCG injection, 9 postmenopausal patients with ovarian tumors showed a significant rise in A peripheral levels. The responsive subjects generally had significant increases in A baseline levels, too. The remaining 5 subjects with advanced or poorly differentiated ovarian cancer with no stroma were not responsive to hCG. Moreover, in the tumor group, 7 subjects had increased baseline T and/or E1 and in 3 of them an increase of these steroids was observed following hCG. In the absence of ovarian tumor, no subject in the control group was responsive to hCG administration. The results of the present investigation seem to confirm the in vivo responsiveness to hCG of ovarian tumors.